Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-06-17
THE COMMANDMENTS.
EXPLANATORY NOTES BY S. |.
CURTlSS, PHI. D., D. D.

Second quarter, Tor sunday, june ~.
Text of the Lesson, lex. Xxx, 1a-21-GoId-
en- Text Matt. xxi, 80.
An Egyptian scholar (Brugsch) says: I'VE
are tempted to believe that the Jewish law
giver Moses modelled his teachings on the
patterns given by the old Egyptian sages.r
While it may well be that Moses learned
much from the Egyptians, yet his immediate
teacher was the Divine Spirit.
There is similarity between some of the
precepts of the Ten Commandments and the
moral law of the Egyptians but it is easy to
see that the Ten Commandments were not of
mans devisng. The same hand that wrote
them on tables of stone also wrote them on
the tables of human hearts. But men have
perverted them. Although the Egyptians
We're below the common level of morality,
their dead are represented as appearing be-
fore the judgment seat of Osiris, as wrap
ping the robes of their self righteousness
around them, and as saying, II have not
blasphemed, have not deceived, have not
stolen. Let me go; ye know that l am
without fault without evil, without sin,
without crime.n
How different this boastful spirit from that
produced by the commandments, where every
mouth is stopped and the whole world be-
comes guilty before God Rom iii, 19).
While the preceding commandments have
to do with mans duties concerning God, those
which follow have to do with mans duties in
regard to his fellow man.
THE LESSON
The Fifth Commandment ". 12).-The
duty to parents is reckoned next to the duty
to God. While among some peoples, as the
Chinese, the honor of parents and ancestors
/ I.
of the heather aged and helpless parents are
neglected by their children in the most cruel
way
The fifth commandment really enjoins ODE
dience to parents because children cannot
honor them unless they obey them, and adds
the promise of long life.
One of the greatest dangers of our age and
country is in lack of reverence. In the
tendency to break down all social distinctions,
and to speak evil of persons occupying high
positions, there is danger of an undue
familiarity arising between parents and
children, in which the child forgets that he is
a child, and the reverence due to age and ex-
perience
1t would be well if something of the re-
spect with which the young Bedawin, and
even the Indian boy, treats his father, were
found in our Christian communities.
The Sixth Commandment ". 13).-The
first step to murder is in the indulgence of
anger. The man who hates another so that
he would strike him down if he dared is al
ready murderer in his heart Matt. " %;
John iii, l5). 1t is only a question of time,
place and opportunity as to whether he will
take the life Of the one he hates
The sixth commandment, however, is as
truly directed against self murder as the
murder of others None but God, or the
guardians of justice who serve in the concep-
ton of the New Testament by divine appoint
ment rom xiii, Ia, or those who are COM
PEELED to defend themselves against lawless
men, have right to take human life
The Seventh Commandment ". 1N.-Tbe
boy who reads the records of sensual in
diligence and looks at lewd pictures is prepar-
ing to break this commandment The young
man who tells indecent stories or listens to
them is not only guilty of grave otfense
against propriety, but is preparing himself to
he an adulterer All conversation and be-
havior between young men and women that
suggests impurlty, unless checked, may pre-
pare the way for adultery.
When the heart has once given consent
man Is guilt All lustiul thoughts, as well
as words ana deeds, are TO be avoided Matt.
! V, -. lhere Is no age IN the worlds history
when the seventh commandment is not of the
utmost Importance and the higher the civlll-
laI, s''oiat,. J.; ,uraat',l ,';tat ','iii',n-
tI,o ,rroat'v tb, ,o,,,,,tatio, ~ ,ai. :,
T5a E;r,th Co,,,r' ,'r'I ~. n. ~ rh.o
oro noa,7, l,;rds 81 staai;nl, o,,d III an,,,
,,,o,I,a'. H. 49, -. '', - s IN
- Ne .It.I ~
-. -, S.. t 80 l'o,
in Amaroo Tho nae,ro i 90 ,o,,,r,. st1ia,,
h,t ,ho.a ~ ,,,,at - i, a. (1n;. ~ '.nt
son,a+Ii, e. ,'N.Ii,,,r Iast ,,',,I.i,Il 80,
Ia ansIa,.7i n ,,,ent - T. 800 IN 49,.
,,,,o,, -, s,.,' s,, -,
,,,.ii co. - WV NV '''''e
~, ,l'o' n,ln,. ha,'I ,,,''' - ,o
toI,an he ,In,'nr,s -. i ,ua,l '- .S
$3.50 Ia.+o, aIc.Las 81 j.. - ',
oo,,,r,o,;on T., ,,,a1au,, .ao;a.,. .,,is o''
anI'',,,t :. ,a;,,l. .i'' 'o''''
M vi Cn'''t' W .r,.
80. 49, =. ", iI'
- m, ~, ' e
r,,,a ,,o, .ho 49,. 10 -, =. 20